Penelope Sheehan is one of our international travel consultants and recently accompanied Frank Bunnik on the Kandy Festival tour of Sri Lanka. Here, in the first of several reports, she re-lives her experience during bath time at the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage.
We got up early as our guide Pria had found out that bath time today would be at 10am. The Pinnawella Elephant Orphanage is world famous – it was set up in 1975 by the Sri Lankan Department of   Wildlife with the aim of caring for orphaned and injured elephants. Since its humble beginnings the project has grown to a herd of 70 elephants, cared for by 100 staff on a 25 acre coconut property on the edge of the Maha Oya River.
"It's all fun in the sun for these young ones"
Elephant with a bit of a temper
We arrived about 10 minutes before bath-time - just in time to see Raja the first elephant being led down to the river. The walk is about 400 metres from the camp to the river through the middle of a small town. Raja, a large lumbering elephant, was being led by chains. When we questioned this, Pria explained that poachers blinded Raja in a failed attempt to take his tusks and he is now completely dependent on humans and needs a little more TLC and time than the others. Raja has also been known to have a bit of a temper in the past so he always goes first – fair enough I thought.
 Rumble of the baby elephants
As soon as Raja had made it down to the river we heard the rumble of footprints and looked around to see the first of the baby elephants – they were running after each other using their trunk to tease one another while their very watchful parents remained close by. I could see why standing well back was important when the young ones come down the road. Like any children they take little notice of their surrounds and pay little attention to those around them. It’s all about fun in the sun for these young ones.
"They were not rushed and certainly didn’t seem to mind
a group of Aussie tourists watching them"
 Action from the balcony
Watching the 70 elephants bathing in a river is truly a sight to behold. They had a great time rolling around in the water, spraying each other or playing in the mud on the far bank. We were watching all the action from the balcony of one of the hotels on the water’s edge – cool drink in hand. However once all the elephants were in the river several of us went down for a closer look.
There is one elephant in the orphanage that has become quite famous. Her name is Sama and she had stood on a land mine and now only has the use of three legs. Sama had a special prosthesis foot made for her but she didn’t like it and kept kicking it off! How she now manages to manoeuvre herself down the river bank and into the water with very little trouble is amazing.
"I even managed to get a photo of two elephants kissing
which I thought was very charming."
Free to play and relax
The whole Pinnawela experience was wonderful – the river is a very natural setting and the elephants are free to play and relax as they wish – they were not rushed and certainly didn’t seem to mind a group of Aussie tourists watching them! I even managed to get a photo of two elephants kissing which I thought was very charming.
A visit to the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage is one of the highlights of our Treasures of Sri Lanka tour. Regular departures run throughout the year with a special Kandy Festival departure in August each year.
Treasures of Sri Lanka
The 16 day Treasures of Sri Lanka tour starts at $2,995 per person twin share. This includes flights from Australia. Air taxes are additional.
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